| 1. |
- Eklinder-Frick, Jens Ola
(författare)
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Clustering or interacting for knowledge? : Towards an entangled view of knowledge in regional growth policy
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:2, s. 221-242
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The European Union has an ambition to become the world's most competitive and knowledge-based economy, which entails investments in cluster initiatives. Most researchers, however find that such investments have had limited impact. The notion of creating industrial clusters is influenced by the discourse within new economic geography in which research interests are geared toward facilitating knowledge exchange between industry, university and government. In order to understand how knowledge is created and enacted within a cluster initiative the purpose of this paper is to investigate the interactions between actors participating in a specific innovation process. Design/methodology/approach - The studied cluster initiative is one of the 55 clusters designated as demonstrating highly sophisticated cluster management by European Union officials, making it an interesting case study for knowledge creation in such environments. The case study entails semi-structured in-depth interviews of 24 respondents. Findings - The cluster approach encourages a "disentangled" view of knowledge where knowledge is seen as universal and cognitive and therefore possible to disentangle from the context in which it was initially produced. However, my findings suggest that in practice knowledge is "entangled" in the specific context in which it is enacted and produced. Originality/value - Thus, in practice knowledge is a contextually limited and practical activity that is being enacted when heterogeneous resources interact in producer-user interfaces. This mismatch between strategy and outcome may subsequently help to explain the limited impact of policy on regional growth.
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| 2. |
- Havenvid, Malena Ingemansson, et al.
(författare)
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Economic deals in the construction industry : Implications for socio-material interaction and monetary processes
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:3, s. 364-389
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between social-material interaction and the monetary aspects of business relationships in the construction industry. The authors term the formal financial agreements necessary for such activities "deals", and this paper seeks to open a research avenue to further investigate the multifaceted interaction processes among business actors. The construction industry is a suitable empirical setting for this purpose; its project-based character and societal position of linking business with the construction of essential community infrastructure imply that different types of money-handling activities need to be managed continuously with both short-term and long-term effects taken into account. Design/methodology/approach - To investigate the deals, i.e., the interface between socio-material interaction and the money-handling processes in the construction industry, as well as studying the potential interrelatedness of deals, the authors performed a case study involving three interrelated housing projects in Uppsala, Sweden. Findings - The study shows that deals do not only have an intricate relationship to the social-material interaction processes among construction actors, but they also become interrelated in specific ways to form "deal structures" as actors engage in different business relationships over time. This means, for instance, that a single deal can enable several other deals, and involved actors have different abilities in performing deals. Hence, most deals are part of a "broader" interaction pattern of social and material resources spanning the organizational borders of individual companies. Originality/value - Within the industrial marketing and purchasing, the socio-material interaction among actors has been well studied, but less attention has been paid to the monetary dimension and its relationship to the socio-material interaction processes. In particular, this study provides an understanding of monetary agreements in the construction industry.
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| 3. |
- Havenvid, Malena Ingemansson, et al.
(författare)
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Managing renewal in fragmented business networks
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:1, s. 81-106
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The authors argue that the construction industry is characterised by a fragmented business context with three main features: the project-based character, the strong focus on price in all parts of the supply chain along with the great importance of suppliers. This fragmentation has been identified as problematic for the industry's ability to innovate and engage in renewal. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this further by focusing on how construction companies manage renewal in a fragmented business context.Design/methodology/approach - The authors use an in-depth case study of a housing project in Sweden to discuss how firms manage renewal in a fragmented type of business environment. The authors identify the challenge of achieving renewal in an individual construction company as an issue of handling intra- and inter-organisational issues in both intra- and inter-project environments.Findings - The case study indicates that renewal can be partly handled and managed through long-term business relationships and partly through opening up to new business relationships. Moreover, innovations and learning developed in other projects can be used in the focal project, and due to a repetitive task it is possible for the construction company to use a core network of individuals and organisations to enhance overall renewal among actors.Research limitations/implications - The study needs to be supported by further empirical observations. The paper encourages IMP scholars to further investigate projects from an industrial network approach.Practical implications - The study shows that the internal resources of firms can be used systematically to create continuity in a multi-project organisation, and that relationships can be used to bridge learning and innovation among actors across projects.Originality/value - The paper addresses why firms in fragmented (project-based) businesses might struggle with achieving renewal in a novel way by outlining and investigating four organisational challenges they must handle.
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| 4. |
- Håkansson, Håkan, 1947-, et al.
(författare)
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“Methodomania”? On the methodological and theoretical challenges of IMP business research“
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:3, s. 443-463
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - Behind the simple connotation "business exchange" a complex empirical phenomenon can be observed, including using, producing and developing activities, taking place in different contexts, influenced by ideas stemming from both practice and mainstream economic thinking. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological challenges of research on business exchange in general and of IMP research in particular. Furthermore, to discuss how the authors can avoid the contemporary "methodomania" trend, where the researchers' focus is directed toward accounting for which rules were followed. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on a methodological distinction made by Peter Galison (1997) in his investigation of the interdependence among research approach, methodology, and research object in microphysics. Studies based on: "image," allows data in its original form, and "logic," requires the translation of original data and therefore relies "fundamentally on statistical demonstrations." This distinction is utilized to investigate what is specific with business exchange as a research object, and how IMP researchers have dealt with the methodological challenges it presents. Furthermore, the paper considers these different methodological approaches in relation to theory and understanding of the research object. Findings - The main conclusion is the huge importance the image-based methodology has had for the development of the IMP network approach. From the very start the IMP project has been focused on the production of a large set of, in Galison's terminology, "hard facts" about the existence, substance and importance of interaction and the relationships it is creating. This image-based methodology has been utilized in the development of a set of imaging instruments, each with an ability to picture the content and consequences of business exchange. Research limitations/implications - Two methodological challenges which are specific for business research are identified. One is that "images" in terms of personal accounts on the organizing of production and use of economic resources are marbled with ideas, stemming from a mix of theories, textbooks and practice on how to do this. The second is that established theories create a "logic" in terms of the combination of "assumptions" and established " accounting principles" that produce a number of outputs interpreted as primary data and objective accounts of the characteristics of the production and use of economic resources. Practical implications - IMP's image-based methodology and the development of specific imaging instruments can increase the exactness in the pictures of the content and consequences of business interaction, and also, catch the range of its substance. Considering this circumstance could be a way to avoid " methodomania" and to breed awareness of the relationship among research object, methodology, and research approach. Social implications - IMP's image-based methodology can increase the awareness that the logic-based model of business exchange has been ascribed an advisory role in terms of how companies should act in order to survive and prosper: as sellers and buyers in relation to each other, and also in relation to others. Originality/value - First, the paper underlines that image-based methodologies can be used to produce "hard facts" about the existence, substance, and importance of business interaction. Second, the paper shows how the methodology of mainstream economics tends to be "the elephant in the room," both in approaches resting on "image" and "logic." It addresses the importance of making the elephant visible and investigates what is happening in its shadow.
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| 5. |
- Milanesi, Matilde, et al.
(författare)
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A black swan in the district? An IMP perspetive on immigrant entrepreneurship and changes in industrial districts.
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:2, s. 243-259
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the changes of the Italian textile district of Prato, considered an exemplary case of the industrial district (ID) model, using a business network perspective. The "Black Swan" metaphor is used to address the changes in the Prato textile district in order to understand whether such changes have been an unexpected and unpredictable phenomenon, or they can be explain with a different theoretical tool-box, namely, that developed by the industrial network approach. Design/methodology/approach - The paper utilizes already published studies on the changes of the textile/fashion companies located to the Prato area. Both studies that have been carried out within an ID approach and those carried out with an Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) point of departure are considered in the research. Both types of studies were utilized to identify empirical observed changes of the producer, respectively user setting that the Prato located companies was related to, including identification of changes affecting both the local setting and the larger network it was related to. Findings - The utilization of the IMP model proposes a learning ground that exceed the local context and open ups of investigations of opportunities and threats stemming from interactions across spatial borders. Analysed from an interactive point of view, in the specific context of Prato, the exploitation of the opportunities given by establishing relationship between natives and migrants actors goes through the creation of interactions among actors representing specific resource combinations and activity structures - within and outside the local community. Originality/value - The paper concerns how the same research object - the changes of the Prato district - appears from another perspective different from the ID theory, namely, the industrial network approach developed by scholars of the IMP Group.
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| 6. |
- Prenkert, Frans, 1969-
(författare)
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Market investments in resource interfaces : understanding market assets in networks
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:3, s. 409-442
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of who forms what market assets bymaking what market investments in a business network.Design/methodology/approach: To investigate what market investments were made by certainactors into resource interfaces as market assets, the author draws on a case network based on aninvestigation of the Chilean salmon production network. To this end, the author chose the fish–beingthe focal object resource in that network–as a point of departure. The author systematicallyinvestigates the resource interfaces that this resource has with three other specific resources: feed,fishmeal, and vaccines in a thick case study.Findings: This study shows that market investments entail committing resources toresource interfaces which turns them into market assets. Resource interfaces as market assets haveimplications on how we characterize and value resource interfaces. Multilateral resource interfacesbecome valuable to firms as a result of continuous market investments made into them. This producesdifferent types of resource interfaces, some of which are of mediatory character bridging betweendistant resources in a network.Research limitations/implications: This study focuses on the market investments being made tocreate and sustain market assets. Of course such assets are linked to a firm’s internal assets which thisstudy do not investigate. In addition, this study emphasizes the commitment of resources into existingresource interfaces, the ensuing creation of market assets, and its use and value for firms anddownplays a firm’s need to account for market investments and the market investments required tocreate a new resource interface.Practical implications: As resource interfaces are valuable market assets, it is important tounderstand the functioning of different types of resource interfaces so as to exploit their potential asefficient as possible. This paper shows that some resources act as bridging resources connecting theborders of two indirectly related resources. Controlling bridging resources becomes an essential taskfor managers in business networks.Social implications: Understanding the market investments into resource interfaces enables firmsto become more skilled in organizing and controlling networks. These networks can play importantroles in the economic development of society and create improved societal conditions for people,organizations, and economies.Originality/value: By combining a market investment and market asset conceptualization ofinvestments in networks with a resource interaction approach, this paper provides an enhancedunderstanding of resource interfaces as market assets. Theoretical implications for our understandingof resource interfaces–its value and character–are discussed.
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| 7. |
- Shih, Tommy, et al.
(författare)
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State actors’ mobilisation of resources for innovation : a case study of a Chinese vaccine
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:2, s. 296-316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how state actors mobilise resources in business networks to facilitate innovation. Design/methodology/approach - A single case study method is used. The case from the Chinese biotechnology sector illustrates how state actors mobilise resources in a network context in order to develop, produce and use a vaccine. Findings - The case findings demonstrate that state actors indirectly, as well as actively, are involved in the whole innovation process by mobilising resources necessary for the development, production and use of the vaccine. State actors influence other actors, both political and business, and provide resources in order to facilitate innovation. Practical implications - The paper illustrates that state actors, in the specific case, play an important and active role throughout the whole innovation process. This opens up the issue of the possible extended role of state actors in innovation. Originality/value - Over the past decades, Chinese state actors have played an active role in the business landscape. This paper explores state actors' influence on the innovation process on the network level.
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| 8. |
- Waluszewski, Alexandra, 1956-
(författare)
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What's "knowledge management" when resources are unknowable and deals negotiated?
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:1, s. 107-128
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the management of the use of knowledge in interfaces stretching across company and organizational borders, including the negotiated monetary dimension.Design/methodology/approach - The research approach is the IMP framework on resource interaction (Hakansson and Waluszewski, 2002), and the distinction among heterogeneous economic resources and a homogeneous monetary dimension, (Hakansson and Olsen, 2015; Perna et al., 2015). A case study on use of science based knowledge in business is utilized.Findings - The management regime behind the creation of a user setting including a substantial monetary flow is can be characterized as "managing collective entities" (Hakansson, Bakken, Olsen, 2013) and it is argued that the knowledge management regime assumes away the most important process related to use of knowledge.Research limitations/implications - The paper stress the theoretical need for approaching managment in general and managing use of knowledge in particular as an interactive issue.Practical implications - The paper stress the practical need for approaching managment in general and managing use of knowledge in particular as an interactive issue.Originality/value - The paper questions the knowledge management regime, which has a strong influence on public policy.
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| 9. |
- Öberg, Christina, 1970-
(författare)
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Let’s talk about innovation : Is there a hidden potential of knowledge exchange between open innovation and IMP?
- 2016
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Ingår i: The IMP Journal. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 2059-1403 .- 0809-7259. ; 10:3, s. 540-560
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: IMP researchers have shown interest in how innovations result from interaction among companies, while, and in parallel, there has been an increased focus on open innovation (OI) during the past decade. OI depicts how companies source, spin-out, and collaborate on innovation. This paper describes and discusses whether and how IMP and OI researchers acknowledge and build on each other’s work; and whether and how ideas provided by IMP and OI, respectively, create a fit to expand the exchange of knowledge between IMP and OI.Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a citation analysis focussing on whether the OI literature refers to IMP research, and whether or not the IMP literature refers to OI research. The paper also compares OI and IMP to discover potentials for knowledge exchange between them through discussing similarities, complementarities, and contradictions.Findings: The paper points out that while IMP researchers have started to show interest in OI, OI research does not refer to IMP. As such, OI research remains more company-centric in its discussions. IMP provides tools and models to capture the OI phenomenon specifically related to collaborative OI, while OI offers interesting thought for the capture of transaction-based innovation processes and their management.Originality/value: The paper contributes to previous research through linking together OI and IMP research. This is important for several reasons, including the ability to enhance knowledge in each domain, critically discuss and relate various research domains and their underpinnings, and expand ideas developed in one research domain to another.
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